PT-3 "Self-Serving Ambition"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2023 9:55 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-3 “Self-Serving Ambition”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:22-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.”

 

            It is kind of late Sunday night and because I did not get up in time to do my Spiritual Diaries this morning I will do this one tonight.

 

            We have been writing about the things that James and John were saying to Jesus about being able to drink the cup that Jesus was going to drink, which they said that they were able to do.  Jesus told them that they would drink the cup, but not the cup that He was about to drink, a cup of wrath from His Father that would pay for our sins.

 

            It is not sure or not that perhaps these disciples, James and John, might have misunderstood what Jesus meant or perhaps because, like Peter promising never to forsake Christ, they self-confidently thought they could endure anything required of them.  James and John foolishly declared, “We are able.’”  In a similar way that Peter denied the Lord three times before the rooster crowed, those two brothers, along with all the other disciples, fled for their lives when Jesus was arrested as seen in Matthew 26:56.

 

            Jesus, out of tenderness and compassion, then said to them "My cup you shall drink.’”  However as mentioned it would not be in their own power but in the power of the Holy Spirit that they would suffer greatly for their Master’s sake. In Acts 12:2 we read about James becoming the first disciple to die for the cause of Christ. John would be the last disciple to die, but I am not sure how much suffering that he did before through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he wrote the book of Revelation.  I don’t know if this story is true about him, but I read somewhere that John was boiled in oil in order to kill him, but because he remained alive he was sent to the island of Patmos where, as mentioned he would see the Lord and then write the book of Revelation.

 

            Jesus tells them that whoever is to sit on His right and left in the Kingdom was not for Him to chose, but His Father.  MacArthur writes “It would not be on the basis of favoritism or ambition that those honors would be bestowed, but on the basis of the Father’s sovereign choice.  Personal ambition is not a factor in the eternal, sovereign plan of God.  It is therefore not only sinful but a foolish and useless waste of effort.

            24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.”  I can say that these ten may have been indignant over James and John, but the truth is that they all were in the same boat as these two were and probably wanted to ask the same question to Jesus. 

5/7/2023 10:14 PM

PT-2 "Self-serving Ambition" (Matt. 20:22-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/6/2023 10:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “Self-Serving Ambition”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:22-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.”

 

            John MacArthur writes the following which can give us a hint as to why kind of a person who will sit next to our Lord during the Millennial Kingdom where Christ will rule on earth for 1000 years from His throne in Jerusalem.  He writes “Suffering from physical afflictions such as disease, deformity, and accident or from emotional distresses of a lost job or the death of a loved one can be used by the Lord to strengthen believers spiritually.  He can help them grow even through problems and hardships they bring on themselves because of foolishness or sin. But the affliction that brings eternal glory is that which is brought about and is willingly endured because of faithfulness to the Lord.  It is suffering because of the gospel, being “persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (Matt. 5:10).  The one who has the greatest glory beside Christ in heaven will be the one who has faithfully endured the greatest suffering for Him on earth.” 

 

            As I was thinking about this my mind went to something that the Lord said about “Saul (Paul)” when the Lord saved him on the Damascus Road found in the 9^th chapter of Acts.  “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11  And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12  and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." 13  But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14  and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake’” (Acts 9:10-16).  In the 11^th chapter of 2^nd Corinthians Paul gives a summary of all the sufferings that he endured for the cause of Christ, but throughout that passage Paul showed his humility in doing this as he was giving his credentials of being an Apostle, as some were questing it.  Perhaps it will be Paul who sits beside Christ during His Millennial Kingdom.  I have at times wondered if it was not suppose to be Paul who would take the place of Judas, but after studying the book of Acts I now believe that it was Mathias who was the one to do this.  I thought that perhaps this was another time when Peter got too much in a hurry in choosing the replacement for Judas.  With that said perhaps it will be Paul to have this greatest of honors sitting beside Christ.

 

            I want to talk about the cup that Christ speaks about in verses 22 and 23, as this is important to understand what this is about.  To drink the cup meant to drink the full measure, leaving nothing.  This was a common expression that meant to stay with something to the end, to endure to the limits, no matter what the cost involved.  Now the cup that Jesus was about to drink was infinitely worse than the physical agony of the cross.  I wrote about His sufferings in an earlier SD, and also stated there that it was more than His sufferings on the cross.  I talked about the agony of the cross or the emotional anguish of being forsaken by His friends, painful as those were, and there were other sufferings that Jesus went through too.  MacArthur writes “The full measure of His cup was taking the world’s sin upon Himself, an agony so horrible that He prayed ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt’ (Matt. 26:39).”

 

            Lord willing we will talk more about this subject in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Paul talks in 2 Corinthians about his “thorn in the flesh” something that I think goes along with physical suffering that was mentioned earlier in this SD.  I have had problems with my “guts” ever since I was young, and I believe that this could qualify as a thorn in the flesh for me, as I think that the Lord has used this predicament to cause me to lean on Him.  I am saying that I would not grow as much in the Lord without this issue.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will cause me to have more of a steady walk with Him, and I believe that has to do with my mind, and controlling my mind for the cause of Christ.  With that said I desire to memorize Philippians 4:8 which I believe will help me in having better control of my mind.

 

Memory verse:  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

 

5/6/2023 11:35 AM

 

 

PT-1 "Self-Serving Ambition" (Matt. 20:22-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/5/2023 10:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-1 “Self-Serving Ambition”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:22-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.”

 

            The verses that we are beginning to look at this morning reflect a second wrong way to spiritual greatness, that of self-serving ambition.  The request that came from James and John, and their mother not only was brash, but it was foolish.  Jesus did not answer the mother but He did answer the brothers, directly "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?"  The three had absolutely no idea of what the full implications of their request were.

 

            Jesus had just talked about what He was about to go through in verses 18-19 “18  

"Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19  and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.’”  MacArthur writes “Jesus was saying, ‘Don’t you realize by now that the way to eternal glory is not through worldly success and honor but through suffering?  Haven’t you heard what I’ve been teaching about the persecuted being blessed and about taking up your own crosses and following Me?’”

 

            Let us now look at an example from the apostle Paul as he learned that the way to great glory is through great affliction for the sake of Christ.  Paul suffered extreme hardship, persecution, and suffering, he considered those things to be insignificant compared to what awaited him in heaven.  Paul told the self-serving, pleasure-loving Corinthians, “For momentary, light afflictions is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).  Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12 “11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12  "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

 

            I want to talk about what those light momentary afflictions that Paul went through were which are found in 2 Corinthians 10:22-32 as he was defending his apostleship.  “22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as if insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? 30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, 33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.” Paul calls what he is describing here “light momentary afflictions.”  He then goes on to talk about being caught up into heaven and because of that experience, in order to keep him from boasting he was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble.  Perhaps we all have what could be described as a thorn in the flesh.

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at our verses from Matthew 20 in our next SD.

 

5/5/2023 10:59 AM

 

 

PT-2 "Political Power Play" (Matt. 20:20-21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/4/2023 10:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Political Power Play”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:20-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.’”

 

            I remember listening to the sermon from John MacArthur that goes along with this passage and he put it this way, which is the way that it is seen in Mark’s gospel.  He talked about having one of his children coming to he and his wife and they would say something like I want you to say yes to what I am going to ask you.  Well in his family this never happened, and this is like what the mother of James and John was asking Jesus, that is to do something that she was asking Him before she told Him what it what she wanted Him to do.  I have to say that because Jesus knew what it was that she wanted that it probably did not make a lot of difference. 

 

            Now I mentioned that James and John’s mother was actually the aunt of Jesus as Mary and their mother were sisters.  James and John were actually first cousins of Jesus.  You have to look at all four gospels to figure all this out.  I guess that the best way to understand this is to quote a paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary.  “The three of them may have been trying to capitalize on their family relationship to Jesus.  By comparing the gospel accounts of the women who stood vigil near the cross, it becomes evident that the mother of James and John was named Salome, and was a sister of Mary, the Mother of Jesus (see Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), making her Jesus’ aunt and James and John His first cousins.  In addition to relying on their relationship as Jesus’ cousins, the brothers perhaps also thought to play on Jesus’ affection for His mother by having her sister approach Him for the favor.”

 

            We see in verse 20 that Salome, the mother of James and John bowed down  which was a common act of  obedience given to ancient monarchs, and the mother may have been trying to flatter Jesus by appealing to Hi sense of power and royalty.  It seems that she was treating Him like a King, which of course He was, but as mentioned before I am not sure if she knew this at this time. It was known of the near eastern kings that they like to give favors to others as it would pride themselves by doing this.  Think of how John the Baptist was murdered as seen in Mark 6:23 “And he swore to her, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.’”  The result of giving this girl what she wanted was the death of John the Baptist.

 

            What James, John, and their mother wanted was like a blank check, and I have to believe that they knew that this was not a legitimate request.  Think for a moment of what their nickname was “Sons of Thunder.”  I want my sons, the sons of thunder to sit on Your right and on Your left in your kingdom.  I realize that they would change after the church began, and also that James would become the first to die for the cause of Christ in the church age, but they had not changed that much yet.

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Like the scribes and Pharisees who loved ‘the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues’ (Matt. 23:26), James and John longed for prestige and preeminence and to be exalted over the other apostles.  Like the self-seeking Diotrephes (3 John 9), they loved to be first.  But that is not the way to greatness in the kingdom of God.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from this passage to be humble and not to talk a lot which is what our Bible Study was about last night.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to think about Philippians 4:8 as this is the verse that I have been attracted to for a long time, that is off and on for a long time.

 

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (NASB95)

 

5/4/2023 11:13 AM   

 

"How Not To Be Great" (Matt. 20:20-25)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/3/2023 10:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  “How Not To Be Great”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 20:20-25

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.”

 

            What we will be looking at today is a short main point and then begin to look at the first sub-point that goes along with these verses.  I suppose that we will not get all the way through the first sub-point today and will have to finish it in our next SD.

 

            John MacArthur writes the following short introduction to these verses:  “It is impossible for the principles of the world to be effective in or adaptable to God’s kingdom.  By their very nature they are contrary to His way and destructive of His work.  They not only never produce greatness but always produce disharmony, pettiness and spiritual weakness in the Body.  In this passage four of those worldly principles are clearly seen.” 

 

Political Power Play (Matthew 20:20-21)

 

            “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.’”

 

            In this sub-point we will be looking first at worldly principle for greatness, and this might be called political power play and this is reflected in the attempt of the mother of the sons of Zebedee.  She wants to persuade Jesus to give those two sons, James and John the highest places of honor in His kingdom.  I am not sure if I have even talked about how the mother of James and John was related to Jesus, she was actually His aunt, the sister of Mary His mother. 

 

            I have to say that there is a political power play that is going on in our country right at this time, and has been going on for a lot of years.  This has to do with the President’s son and how he has become rich because of the influence that his father has had since he has been in government, which is a very long time.  As mentioned the mother of James and John was the aunt of Jesus and so I believe that she actually knew that Jesus was the Messiah and therefore wanted her sons to be involved in a high place in the Messiah’s kingdom here on earth.  That kingdom is called the Millennial Kingdom and even though she did not realize it then this kingdom has not happened yet. 

 

            I have mentioned many times in earlier SD’s that the disciples at this time in their lives have not yet received the Holy Spirit, as that would not happen until the Church age began as seen in Acts chapter two.  So as we look at their request all of this happened before the church age began, and thus before the Holy Spirit was given.  I am not saying that people who are true believers cannot do things like what is going on here.  Another thing that has been mentioned is that this request came right after the third time that Jesus was telling His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem and be crucified.  This certainly brings about very poor timing on their part. 

 

            “32 They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, 33 saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. 34 “They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again." 35 James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You." 36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 37 They said to Him, "Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory’” (Mark 10:32-37).  Now in Mark’s account we do not see the mother of James and John, but James and John asking Jesus the question about them sitting with Jesus in His Kingdom.  I am not sure if their mother was walking with them or not, but the point I want to again make is that the question was asked right after Jesus telling the disciples that He would soon die on a cross in Jerusalem.

 

            John MacArthur writes about this passage in Mark:  “From the Mark passage it is clear that the mother was speaking at the behest of her two sons.  In fact, Mark makes no mention of her at all.  The three obviously came with a common purpose and plan they had discussed among themselves beforehand.  The mother probably spoke first, and then James and John spoke for themselves.”

 

            Lord will we will finish this first sub-section in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times like what is seen in this section of Scripture that I have to say that I get the wrong idea as far as thinking of me and what I would do in a case like is found here.  This, to me goes along with looking at the kings of Judah in the Old Testament and seeing how some of these kings would start out very well in their relationship with the Lord and then it seems like all of a sudden that stop serving the Lord and even some of them start to worship other gods.  The point in all of this to me is that as a believer I have to finish strong, to keep doing the things that are pleasing to the Lord and not fail in serving the Lord like the kings of Judah were doing and like James and John were doing asking Jesus a selfish question right after He had said that He would soon die.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to go over Philippians 4:8 and meditate on this very important verse to me at this time.  “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

 

5/3/2023 10:47 AM

PT-7 "Intro to Matt. 20:20-28"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2023 9:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-7 “Intro to Matthew 20:20-28”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:20-28

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27  and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”

 

            I want to continue to talk about self-love. The following statement happened about a thousand years after these verses were written.  John Calvin said “For so blindly do we all rush in the direction of self-love that everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.”  Calvin then comments that “there is no other remedy than to pluck up by the roots those most noxious pests, self-love and love of victory.  This the doctrine of Scripture does.  For it teaches us to remember that the endowments which God has bestowed upon us are not our own, but His free gifts, and that those who plume themselves upon them betray their ingratitude”

 

            John MacArthur then writes the following “Someone has wisely written;”

 

‘The cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament.  It is, rather, a bright ornament upon the bosom of the self-assured and carnal Christian whose hands are indeed the hands of Able, but whose voice is the voice of Cain.  The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemns; the new cross assures.  The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.  The old cross brought tears and blood; the new cross brings laughter.  The flesh, smiling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross, and before that cross it bows and toward that cross it points with carefully staged histrionics, but upon that cross it will not die and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear.’”

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “It is the cross of suffering and death that Jesus calls His disciples, and to the obedience and self-giving that lead to that cross.  But the believer’s cross is small and his suffering insignificant compared to what his Lord’s suffering and death purchased for him.  “For if we died with Him,” Paul assured Timothy, “we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11-12).  To the Roman church he testified, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth to be compared with the glory that is to be received to us” (Rom. 8:18).  And at the end of his life Peter had long since stopped asking, “What’s in it for me?”  Instead, he confidently counseled fellow believers:  “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).”

 

            Now it is time to go back to when these verses were spoken by our Lord, as at this time His disciples were far from such self-giving, self-effacing discipleship.  So it is safe to say at this time they were not really listening to what Jesus was saying as this was the third time that He had told them about what was going to happen to Him not too many weeks later.  I know that they will have remembered what He said after the event of His death on the cross, and after His burial and then resurrection as the Holy Spirit of God would remind them about this after the church age began as seen in the second chapter of Acts.  I have mentioned earlier that it was no sooner after Jesus told His disciples of what was about to happen to Him that the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.  She wanted her two sons to be seated on His right hand on His left hand in His kingdom. 

 

            MacArthur concludes this very long introduction by writing:  “In that event and in Jesus’ response to it we can see four wrong, worldly ways by which men pursue greatness.  Following that, the Lord gave an exhortation and an example of what constitutes the true greatness that God honors.”   That is what we will be looking at as we look more closely at these verses.

 

5/2/2023 9:31 AM

 

           

 

PT-6 "Intro to Matt. 20:20-28"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/1/2023 10:19 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-6 “Intro to Matthew 20:20-28”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:20-28

 

            Message of the verses:  “20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27  and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”

 

 

            I have been writing about humility and the opposite of humility is selfishness.  I want to quote from the last paragraph that we looked at in yesterday’s SD and then begin to write  more about this subject that Peter brought up when he said the following in Matthew 19:27 “What then will there be for us?”

 

            If one thinks about that question that Peter asked almost 2000 years ago it is not a surprise that Christians are asking that same question today and have been for the past 2000 years.  The truth is that many believers today think that grace is a free lunch, a divine open door to health, prosperity, and self-fulfillment, a celestial storehouse of good things they can order on demand from God.  I guess that this is what is called “the health and wealth gospel,” and it is totally a wrong view or should I say wrong truth about what the gospel is really about.  I heard many years ago that there are 1000 believers a day that will die for the cause of Christ a far cry from the health and wealth gospel.

 

            John MacArthur writes “John Stott has observed that ‘A chorus of many voices is chanting in unison today that I must at all costs love myself.’  In his book The Danger of Self-Love, Paul Brownback writes along the same line, saying, ‘This sudden escalation of teaching on self-love…was the spontaneous response of those who were firmly convinced of the solid biblical basis of self-love.  And…almost immediately the Christian public felt warmly at home with its newfound friend; self-love has been easily incorporated into the mind-set of evangelical Christians’ ([Chicago: Moody, 1982], p. 13).

 

            “Also commenting on the current cult of self-love, John Piper writes,

 

Today the first and greatest commandment is, ‘Thou shalt love thyself.’  And the explanation for almost every interpersonal problem is thought to lie in someone’s low self-esteem.  Sermons, articles, and books have pushed this idea into the Christian mind.  It is a rare congregation, for example, that does not stumble over the ‘vermicular theology’ of Isaac Watt’s ‘Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed’: ‘Would He devote that sacred head/For such a worm as I?’  (‘Is Self-Love Biblical?’ Christianity Today August 12, 1977, p. 6)

 

            “Referring to that last phrase from Watt’s hymn, critics often accuse evangelicals of being victims of ‘worm theology,’ because they preach and teach the total depravity of man.”

 

            Now thinking about embracing self-love, it is not a new danger in the church today as mentioned earlier it has been around since the church began.  It can be seen clearly as a threat to the unity, faithfulness, and purity of the Corinthian church and was surely a threat to many others of that day as well.  It would be several hundred years later that Augustine would write in his classic The City of God:  Two cities have been formed by two loves: The earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.  The former, in a word, glorifies in itself.  The later in the Lord.”

 

            It is my desire to be able to finish this introduction in my next SD as I want to begin with a quote from John Calvin as we continue to look at the subject of self-love.

 

5/1/2023 10:52 AM